A survey of children's activities in the 12 months to April 2000 found that 777,700 children (29%) were involved in at least one of four selected organised cultural activities outside of school hours. Girls were twice as likely as boys (40% compared with 20%) to participate in at least one of these activities (table 12.29).

During the year, 10% of girls were involved in more than one of the selected organised cultural activities outside of school hours, compared with 3% of boys.

The rate of children's participation in at least one of the organised cultural activities ranged from 22% in the Northern Territory to 34% in the Australian Capital Territory.

Playing a musical instrument was the most popular of the selected cultural activities (18%), followed by dancing (10%), singing (5%) and drama (5%). The activity with the highest ratio of girls to boys was dancing, with 11 times more girls participating than boys.

12.29 CHILDREN INVOLVED IN CULTURAL ACTIVITIES(a) - April 2000

Age

5 years

6 years

7 years

8 years

9 years

10 years

11 years

12 years

13 years

14 years

Total

Activity

PARTICIPATION RATE (%)

Males -

- Playing a musical instrument

*4.0

9.8

11.0

16.5

17.0

20.4

20.2

20.8

19.7

18.1

15.8

- Singing

**1.1

**0.6

*2.1

*3.2

*3.8

*4.1

*3.0

*4.4

*3.6

*2.8

2.9

- Dancing

**1.2

*2.2

*2.1

**0.8

*1.5

*1.6

**0.5

*2.8

*2.7

*1.7

1.7

- Drama

**0.1

*1.3

*3.6

*3.5

*2.8

*4.7

*2.4

*4.3

*4.2

*4.8

*3.2

- Total

6.2

12.6

15.2

20.5

20.5

25.2

23.5

24.6

24.4

24.0

19.7

Females -

- Playing a musical instrument

5.4

8.2

15.6

23.7

24.1

27.3

29.4

23.0

23.7

20.0

20.2

- Singing

**1.1

*3.5

*4.1

7.5

7.7

10.3

7.7

8.8

7.6

7.7

6.7

- Dancing

23.3

25.0

22.0

21.0

21.4

19.5

20.4

15.2

15.7

11.6

19.5

- Drama

**0.7

*2.6

*5.1

5.8

5.7

7.8

7.2

10.5

8.4

7.0

6.1

- Total

27.9

32.8

37.1

41.8

44.8

45.0

48.0

42.1

41.5

34.6

39.7

Persons -

- Playing a musical instrument

4.7

9.1

13.2

20.1

20.5

23.7

24.5

22.0

21.7

19.0

17.9

- Singing

*1.1

*1.9

3.0

5.3

5.8

7.0

5.2

6.7

5.6

5.1

4.7

- Dancing

12.1

12.9

11.7

10.8

11.3

10.1

9.9

9.3

9.1

6.5

10.4

- Drama

**0.4

*1.9

4.3

4.6

4.2

6.2

4.7

7.5

6.3

5.8

4.6

- Total

16.9

22.0

25.8

31.1

32.5

34.6

35.1

33.8

32.8

29.1

29.4

(a) Outside of school hours during the 12 months prior to interview in April 2000.

Participation in dancing was highest for children aged 6 years (13%) and lowest for children aged 14 years (7%). Participation in the other three activities peaked between 10 and 12 years of age. During the 12 month period, 93% of children involved in dancing had dancing lessons. Some 75% played a musical instrument, 69% participated in drama and 57% in singing.

In the two school weeks prior to interview in April 2000, 44% of children (34% of boys and 55% of girls) undertook art and craft activities. This compares to 97% of children who watched television or videos and 69% who played electronic or computer games.